The confusion and frustration of midlife is an invitation, not a crisis. Come harness the transformative power of midlife to reclaim your purpose.
I guide midlife women through the uncharted territory of defining an identity outside of their accumulated roles in a way that honors head, heart, body and spirit, as well as family relationships and artistic sensibilities. I offer a multilayered approach that helps women forge an everyday connection to their Feminine Wisdom.
11/11/2024
Early Friday morning some of us had the delight and honor to be guided into the womb of Hope Springs Institute, deep in the Ravine, by founder Suzanne Stevens. It was magical, profound, and rich in metaphors that seem relevant to now. What I "heard":
1) The descent can be treacherous, especially when the path is unclear - or hidden.
2) You can't really know if there's solid ground, so test your footing before you commit.
3) The climb out is easier than the descent if you lean into the land.
4) You can't go wrong following a Crone
11/09/2024
I love walking the Labyrinth. It always helps me return to Center.
11/06/2024
Grateful for the steadfast and healing land here at Hope Springs Institute as we get ready to begin our Sacred Pause retreat
11/04/2024
Took this photo in my backyard one day, when I was struck by that spectacular yellow against the blue sky.
Then I caught myself going down a rabbit hole about the ugly poles and wires “ruining the view”, which spiraled into annoyance about all the downsides of living in the city.
Allowing the negativity of my mind to take over erased the beauty I was seeing and changed the felt sense in my body from one of gratitude to irritation.
Noticing this I shifted my perspective and focused on the tree and the sky, accepting the poles and the wires, allowing them to just be. With that they faded into the background of my attention, rather than the foreground.
Ahh. There was peace and gratitude again.
I think this is a metaphor for how to navigate the coming days. So much fear and anger over the election. Heartache and overwhelm of the ever-expanding humanitarian crises in the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti—the list and the horror feels endless.
So it is crucial that those of us who can be are intentional about where we put our focus.
Can you shift your focus from the ugly parts and instead choose to contribute to the kind of feelings you want more of in the world?
Can you find things to celebrate?
Can you find hope?
Trust?
Even love?
Where can you put a little kindness or gratitude out into the field?
And if you can’t quite get there, can you at least inhabit a neutral space?
This is a way to make a difference no matter what else is going on, no matter what time, energy or resources you have to contribute. I yourself and in the world.
To be clear, I don’t mean that you ignore your emotions.
Feel them. Literally.
Where do they show up in your body? Breathe and stay with them a bit, allowing them to move through by focusing on the felt sense.
Notice when your mind wants to keep ramping them up and come back to the felt sense.
Maybe even find some way to move them out, like movement or some kind of creative process.
And then come back and choose to focus on something with a higher vibration.
We are evolving, the old systems and old paradigms falling away. But entrenched patterns and power don’t easily give up their place.
That’s what we’re in the midst of; that’s the bigger picture.
It’s up to each of us right now to be a “point of light” and provide a counterpoint to all the darkness and negativity, and I believe that as mature women we are especially adept at this. We have the wisdom, the life experience and the fortitude to wrangle our wonderful minds and put them to work for us, rather than being led around by our triggered emotions.
This is just another example of what it means to Age Fiercely.
11/02/2024
Are you longing to get away and tend to your spirit?
Desperate for some time to just focus on you?
Do you know (or suspect) the value to be had from retreat?
This 4-day, 3-night retreat is an invitation to slow down, reflect and honor what life has brought us, releasing what no longer serves us, and making space for the new vision that is waiting to emerge.
It is an intentional time-out to honor our burdens, harvest the lessons and blessings, and let go of what we’re ready to release, so we can shape our path forward.
When we choose to approach life’s challenges and transitions with this kind of intention, they become a powerful crucible for growth and healing, and an incubator for who we are becoming and the dreams we are ready to embrace.
The art and practice of SoulCollage® and creative process will serve as the primary tools for your exploration, balanced with open time for relaxation and integration.
Our time together will help you reconnect to what’s important to you and rediscover your own internal rhythms and timing, all with the support of a community of like-minded women where your own process will be held, witnessed and honored.
If you want to experience the magic to be discovered when women gather for this kind of sacred soul-tending, I hope you will claim your seat around the fire 💖
My oldest daughter was heartbroken with the death of former One Direction member Liam Payne last week. She was a big fan in when she was in that 10-13 year-old age range, which got me wondering:
What was the first death of a childhood idol, or at least a 'relevant to you' celebrity that you remember, and how old were you?
I remember Jim Croce dying (1973 - I was 9), John Lennon (1980/16), Harry Chapin (1981/17) and Karen Carpenter (1983/19). But I don't think any of my childhood idols died until later (RIP David Cassidy😍)
What about you?
10/04/2024
I’m often asked, “What kind of women come to your retreats?”
Usually, it’s asked with a little nervousness, as if the reason they hold inside might not be “good enough.”
My heart always goes out to them because I remember the first time I finally gave myself permission to pause. I was desperate—afraid it wasn’t OK to step away like that.
At first I thought it was desperation that brought women to these retreats, because that was my story.
And yes, sometimes that’s true.
There are women navigating major life transitions—loss, illness, career shifts, empty nests, or simply the weight of change.
But that’s only part of the story.
There are also:
- Seekers longing to connect more deeply with themselves as they prepare for their next step in life.
- Busy women craving a moment to pause and release, so they can step into the new year with renewed energy.
- Women who feel most alive when connected to nature or creative expression, especially when envisioning what’s next.
- Those for whom this retreat has become an annual ritual, a pause to reflect and clear the way for the year ahead.
- And sometimes, there are women who can’t quite put their reasons into words. They just know something inside said, “Now is the time.”
It’s not about age, race, or life stage.
Women come from all walks of life, but every year, as we gather around the fire, we realize we share something: a sense of constriction, fragmentation, and a longing to let go and exhale before stepping into the future.
So who comes to this retreat?
The ones who feel called.
Those who sense that by taking the time to reflect, release, and envision, they will clear a path to their next chapter.
If this is your year, if you feel that call, I invite you to claim your seat around the fire.
And while I know the whole “early bird discount” thing can feel like just another pressure tactic, I do want to gently remind you that the lower rate does end on Oct 5th (for real, no false urgency here).
If this retreat is calling to you, I’d love for you to join us while you can still grab the discount.
Learn more at my link in bio
10/03/2024
I’m often asked, “What kind of women come to your retreats?”
Usually, it’s asked with a little nervousness, as though the reason they hold inside might not be “good enough.”
My heart always goes out to them because I remember the first time I finally gave myself permission to pause. I was desperate—and afraid it wasn’t "OK" to step away like that.
So at first I thought it was desperation that brought women to these retreats, because that was my story.
And yes, sometimes that’s true.
There are women navigating major life transitions—loss, illness, career shifts, empty nests, or simply the weight of change.
But that’s only part of the story.
There are also:
- Seekers, longing to connect more deeply with themselves as they prepare for their next step in life.
- Busy women, craving a moment to pause and release, so they can step into the new year with renewed energy.
- Women who feel most alive when connected to nature or creative expression, especially when envisioning what’s next.
- Those for whom this retreat has become an annual ritual, a sacred pause to reflect and clear the way for the year ahead.
- And sometimes, there are women who can’t quite put their reasons into words. They just know something inside them said, “Now is the time.”
It’s not about age, race, or life stage.
Women come from all walks of life, but every year, as we gather around the fire, we realize we share something: a sense of constriction, fragmentation, and a longing to let go and exhale before stepping into the future.
So who comes to this retreat?
The ones who feel called.
Those who sense that by taking the time to reflect, release, and envision, they will clear a path to their next chapter.
If this is your year, if you feel that call, I invite you to claim your seat around the fire.
And while I know the whole “early bird discount” thing can feel like just another post-capitalist pressure tactic, I do want to gently remind you that the lower rate does end on Oct 5th (for real, no false urgency here).
If this retreat is calling to you, I’d love for you to join us while you can still grab the discount.
Join us for A Sacred Pause: Clearing the Path for a New Year, a nurturing retreat to reflect, release, and renew.
Let's come together to honor the past, envision the future, and step into the new year with clarity and intention.
Registration open thru Nov 24th
09/17/2024
What if all you are meant to do in life is to show up as you?
What if your job in life is to figure out what that looks like and do it?
What if by doing so you help to make the world a better place?
I have suspected this is true for a long time now, and through my studies this year I have become solidly convinced.
By following my own “trail markers” of life this year I’ve been deeply immersed in the energetics of this thing we call life. From Systemic Constellations to Human Design to the quantum field, I’ve been playing in the areas that have intrigued me for most of my adult life.
While I’m still deeply immersed in learning and exploring, I’ve also been pondering, as I try to understand what relevance this major investment of time and resources has to do with the work that I do with women navigating the challenges and changes of midlife.
I’ve landed in the suspicion that the underlying principles that unite all these fields of study are the explanation for the importance of making time for your own Midlife Soulwork.
What’s Midlife Soulwork?
It’s the journey, often taking years, to reclaim your certainty about who you are, why you are here, and what matters most to you.
What I’m now more certain of is that we don’t just do this so that we can thrive in a deeply meaningful and purpose-centered third act of life, although that is 100% reason enough, but because we are needed.
I truly believe that each of us has a unique vibration that is needed to create the world we want to live in, and our “purpose” is to show up in that as purely as we can.
To simply be an expression of our essence.
Midlife, with all its upheavals and transitions, becomes the invitation to let anything that interferes with our embodiment of that essence drop away. That is where the re-storying, restoring and reclaiming comes in.
So I’m bringing this perspective more consciously and more visibly into my teaching and my work with clients, and I would love to talk with you about it all if this sparks your curiosity or maybe lights up your hope.
Join me on Sunday afternoon September 22nd at 4:00 EDT for an online exploration of how all this works and what it means for you.
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Our Sacred Pause is the next evolutionary stage of my solopreneur journey that began in 1994, when I first started my own business as a massage and craniosacral therapist, dedicated to bringing greater balance, ease and well-being into people’s lives. Over the years I expanded my work to include the process of SoulCollage® , and offered retreats and workshops through my business Sacred Spiral Healing Arts. My own perimenopausal meltdown brought me full circle, back to my academic background in women’s issues in adult development and aging, and from that experience Our Sacred Pause was born.
Not every woman encounters challenges in midlife, and many don’t even realize that their unhappiness, dissatisfaction, moodiness or boredom are in fact the hallmarks of a woman’s “midlife crisis.” In truth, these uncomfortable feelings are calling you to the soulwork of midlife: healing old wounds, reconnecting to your unique creative essence, and rediscovering who you are and what your life is about. These are in fact the major developmental tasks of midlife, and your midlife misery is your wake-up call.
Through my signature program, The Art of Midlife Renaissance, I guide midlife women through the uncharted territory of defining an identity outside of their accumulated roles in a way that honors head, heart, body and spirit, as well as family relationships and artistic sensibilities. This 9-month intensive process is a creative, multilayered approach that offers a clear framework for understanding the forces at play for women in midlife and a structure to walk you through the key tasks of the midlife journey, paired with the flexibility to address the unique needs of your personal midlife transition.
On a more personal level, Our Sacred Pause is the weaving together of a lifetime of both academic and personal passion for issues of peace and fulfillment, women, aging, art, heart and soul. It allows me to play off my strength of perceptive insight to both see the big picture and hone in the heart of a matter; to facilitate healing and transformation in a space of safety and witness.
I’d love to chat with you about what’s happening with you that has you curious about your own Midlife Renaissance. Schedule a 30-minute “mini-pause” session and we determine the forces at work in your life and find a first step toward your rebirth.
